6 day old chick walks backwards or in circles

[sheiowan]

First time with chickens. I have a 6 day old chick that for the last 2 days has been chirping very very loudly all while going in circles very fast or walking backwards, kinda out of control. He then sits down and rests. He does this several times a day. There are times he seems fine, pecking around normally. He is smaller than the other chicks. I've seen him eat and drink, but not as much as the others - he sleeps alot. There was a few times he wasn't able to stand up. He his a silver-laced cochin. I have 25 chicks total and all set up nice in our house (heated porch) for now, with organic feed and constant fresh water. I picked him up awhile ago - I checked his crop and it seems kinda squshy - like its liquid filled and warm. I separated him right away - gave him some soft food and seemed to pep up - so I put him back w/the others but still not doing good. All the other chicks are very healthy although I did loose one right away - within 48 hrs - it was fine in the late afternoon and by late evening he was gone - found it listless and died shortly after. Do you think this might be related? And - my chicks were not vaccinated. Thanks for any help - its appreciated.

 

[ChicknThief]

Lizardz had this problem with a welsummer chick a few weeks ago. I believe she gave it baby vitamins for a week or so and he came around. You may want to email her for full details though.

 

[4-H chicken mom]

Welcome to BYC sheiowan, Where did the chicks come from? You could try giving it some infant vitamins. Keep an eye on it, make sure it is getting enough to eat and drink and keep warm. That is about all you can do. Good luck

 

[ChicknThief]

D'oh!!! Where the hecker did I leave my manners!? Welcome to BYC!

Another good person to PM about this is dlhunicorn. Her name is Diana, and she is flat out the most knowledgable person on this board when it comes to chicken medicine and ailments. JMHO

 

[sheiowan]

The chicken came from Murray McM. out of Webster City IA.
I guess I am more concerned about the other chicks getting sick from this one - -

Thanks for the warm welcome. We moved to the country last summer and thought we'd start with chickens. Did lots of research and read the books but this I didn't know the answer too.
Thanks again!

 

[4-H chicken mom]

You may want to do a search on Murray sick chick problems. Many folks here have lost a lot of their chicks that came from this hatchery. I pray that this is not the same problem with yours. Good luck

 

[ChicknThief]

It sounds an aweful lot like an injury to me, though I could definately be mistaken. One of our did this right after being jumped on. We lost her, but Liz had this happen to one of her chicks as I mentioned before, and this chick recovered beautifully.

 

[4-H chicken mom]

That is good to here, but not for the chick of course. It sounds like it will be just fine with time.

 

[lilcountry]

I am new but I had 4 chicks and I got them from a guy in the mountains on vacation and I had a lil one just like the one you say, it was much smallers than my other 3, and it would peep ALL the time and it pasted away like a week or less after I got it. My others seem to be fine. It wasnt doing circles or walking backwards that I know of. But my other chicks didnt seem to like it too much. It would always be by itself.:|